


Alpha

by Just_East



Series: Tales Of The Two Wolves And The Fox [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Fairy Tale Style, Gen, Minor Violence, Origin Of Werewolves, Original Fiction, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-16
Updated: 2015-03-16
Packaged: 2018-03-18 05:20:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3557525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Just_East/pseuds/Just_East
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a time before humanity existed, there was only nature, settled in her never ending circle of life an death. All was just, nothing was ever cruel or unnecessarily painful.</p><p>But then, the gods created humans.</p><p>It is in one particular village in the North of today's world that our story begins.</p><p>(AKA: The Author's Take On The Origin Of Werewolves)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Alpha

In a time before humanity existed, there was only nature, settled in her never ending circle of life and death. All was just, nothing was ever cruel or unnecessarily painful.

But then, the gods created humans.

It is in one particular village in the North of today's world that our story begins.

 

____________________________

 

Once upon a time where was a village and a pack of wolves who lived side by side, nearly in harmony. 

The days were chilled but the sun was strong, and even though night was tinged with frost and it was rarely ever warm enough for the snow on the ground to melt, there was still a forest brimming with life. The trees were tall ancient pine, and the grass and plants were determined, stubborn and hardy. 

The animals who lived in this forest were cautious and quick, but the wolves and men who hunted them were cunning. Life in this cold forest was not easy for anyone.

One season, a new litter of pups was born to the wolf pack. All but one succumbed to the cold's grasp. A small female, stronger than the rest, and determined as the plants that grow even in today's sidewalks. As the young pup grew, she showed an extraordinary talent for observation and learning, and a burning curiosity. The young wolf's parents swore to her, that this would one day become her undoing.

Seasons passed, and before she knew it, she was fully grown and carrying pups of her own.

One day, when the season's food has been sparse and she was hungrier than she could ever remember being, she travelled further into the forest in a direction she'd never been before. Seasons ago, when she had been young, her parents had warned her to never go too far into that part of the forest, but the young wolf had always been too curious.

The further she went, the more odd smells she began to notice. Curiosity truly piqued, she continued on her way until she came to the edge of a large clearing.

Inside the large clearing were unfamiliar structures and creatures; she had found the village.

The young wolf was instantly intrigued, and all thoughts of food were forgotten. She sat and watched, observing the humans and how they acted, fascinated at how they danced and sang around a glowing mass that licked up towards the sky.

She must have sat there for days, just watching the humans. Eventually she saw what looked to be a limping human head her way. At last, she remembered her hunger.

Backing away, she ran back to her den, eager to tell her pack of what she had found, but when she returned to her home, no one was there.

Worried and confused, she stayed in her den, anxiously awaiting the return of her pack.

As night faded into day and back into night, there was no sign of her pack returning. She had been left behind.

Grieving, she howled and begged of the moon to let her know what she should do, but she got no answer.

Alone with only her unborn pups, and so, so hungry, she thought of the limping human and returned to the village.

Settling back in to watch the humans once more, the wolf watched as they danced and sang once more, and felt a longing for her pack. She longed to play and dance with her pack, but she knew now that they would not return.

Once she caught sight of the limping human, she decided that in order to survive, she would put into place what she had learned. She would hunt only the old, weak, or injured, and leave the healthy to procreate.

It was easy enough to catch the limping human when it headed into the forest. She was quick, and cunning, and more than a match for it. She headed back to her den to rest, content with her sated hunger.

In the coming days she did not leave her den, for within the night, her pups were born. Two tiny, beautiful males, she did not want to leave them. But as the day faded into night and back into day, she grew hungry, and she knew she'd have to keep her strength up to care for her pups. 

Once the night had come again, the moon high in the sky, she went on the hunt again, going back to the village, she waited until another slow moving, weak human passed by and caught it quickly. She ate fast and darted back to her den, worried and anxious to get back to her pups.

Many days and nights passed in the same fashion, and she continued, entirely unaware that the humans had realized her presence. For seasons before, her parents had taught her that wolves were the most cunning creatures under the sky. 

One night, when she had returned to the village, she was surprised to not see the glowing mass that the humans usually danced and sang around. She was even more surprised by the silence and the lack of dancing. She stayed in her spot, her parents had taught her to be patient, after all.

But by the time the sun came up, there had been no movement. As the sun crept over the horizon, the village gradually came to life, and she was relieved to know that all seemed to be normal once again. She knew though, that she had missed her opportunity to hunt and found a place nearby to nap.

She woke up to the moon high and fat in the sky, and the village once again soundless. The silence made her anxious and she decided that she would try again the next night. Quickly, she headed back to her den to be with her pups.

When she returned, she instantly knew something was wrong, she did not hear the cries of her pups and she could smell that several humans had been to her den. Running inside, her pups were nowhere to be found, and she let out a howl of despair, once again begging the moon for answers. She wandered, half following the scent of the humans and half scared out of her wits. They had found her den, they had taken her pups, what was to say they were even alive?

Then she heard it, the pained cries of one of her pups. They were being hurt. Quick as she could, she ran towards them, straight into an unfamiliar clearing without care of her own safety. The stench of blood was all she could smell, and before she realized what was happening, a piercing pain was all she could feel. She let out a howl of pain, knowing she had been injured, but uncaring. Caring only for the sight of one of her pups dead, his blood soaking into the snow, the other barely breathing, gashes all over it's tiny body.

She heard human howls and closed her eyes even as she let out a mournful howl, asking the moon why this had to happen to her pups. She understood, this was her punishment for the curiosity that her parents had warned her of, but why must her pups be punished as well?

 

________________________

 

As she lay bleeding out and mourning the loss of her pups, the two humans, the hunter of the village and his apprentice fought. The hunter insisted his apprentice kill the wolf, but the hunter's apprentice was hesitant.

The wolf was a beautiful creature who cared only for her and her pup's survival, she had never taken more than she needed to barely scrape by. He watched her as she bled out from the spear in her stomach, her beautiful white fur staining a horrifying red, and found he could not stand by. 

The hunter, reassured that even if his apprentice refused to kill the wolf, that it would surely die soon, left them alone.

Coming right up to the wolf, the hunter tried his best to stop the bleeding, begging the moon and the gods to spare the wolf who had only ever tried to survive.

The gods heard the hunter's apprentice's prayers and asked if this was truly what he desired and asked if he understood and was prepared to pay the price.

The young man agreed and the gods made it so on a few conditions.

In order for the wolf to live, a piece of the man's humanity and a piece of the wolf's soul were traded.

It should have been an even split, but the wolf rejected most of the humanity, and the young man's humanity rejected most of the wolf. 

Before his eyes, the man watched as the wolf transformed, her fur changing from it's blood soaked snowy white into pale skin that shivered in the snow. Her muzzle changed into a human face, her luminescent green eyes changing into a deep, dark, human brown.

The hunter's apprentice shuddered, feeling his own bones cracking and rearranging, he screamed until he couldn't, until his form had changed fully into a wolf, and he howled to the moon, thanking the gods for fulfilling his wish even as the pain was unbearable.

The wolf, when she opened her eyes, was terrified to notice that the world was different, the sounds of the forest dimmed, the smell of the forest absent, her sight was fuzzy, but the red of blood was striking. Bolting up, she screamed an entirely new human scream at the sight of her now human limbs, and stared into the bright blue eyes of the man who had become a wolf. 

 

____________________________

 

The gods aren't always fair, and there is always a price to be paid for their favors. 

For that day and every day after, as price for the gods' graces and punishment for the human lives she took, the wolf can only return to her true form three days a month, when the moon is at it's fullest. 

And as a price to be paid for the grace of the gods and for the answering of his prayer, the hunter's apprentice must forever obey the will of the wolf he saved, for she is now his Alpha.


End file.
